Didn't know i was lost
by Tazzy McGee
Summary: Freddy didn't know where his life was going. Zack didn't realise what he wanted from life. What they needed was a little help
1. Default Chapter

Hi everyone.  
  
This is my first story in the SoR fandom. Hope it doesn't suck to much.  
  
Disclaimer: Dont own it.

"This is the best idea you have ever had"  
  
Zach Mooneyham stood in front of the microwave and watched sleepily as his burrito turned around on the rotating plate. The little green numbers counted down slowly, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...and then the machine beeped. The noise woke him, and he jumped slightly, pressed the door-opening button, and reached into the appliance. He hissed as he burnt the palm of his hand on the hot Microwave snack.   
  
"I wouldn't go that far Zach, I do have a few other good ideas," Freddy Jones laughed as he reached into the microwave, and as though it was not at all heated, lifted his friend's burrito out and threw his own in. He was used to the sensation of burning food. "But do you think that Dewey would go for it?"  
  
"Sure, I think he would...but it is Summer that you have to convince." Zach replied as he carefully handled his food, and then crossed to the other side of the store to get a bottle of soda.   
  
"That was something I was hoping you would help with" Freddy replied, speaking to his friend over the isles of snack food. "I was hoping you would overlook your sweet, sensitive new age guy but still rocker exterior and take advantage of the crush that she has on you"  
  
"I would never do that to her" Zach replied, coming back to the microwave and handing Freddy a bottle of coke. Freddy accepted it, nodding his thanks to the other boy. "There was no way I would do that to her."  
  
"See, sensitive new age guy" Freddy grinned. "What is it that Marta calls it? Being a S.N.A.G."  
  
"Oh, go snag yourself" Zach sighed. They both made their way to the counter and paid for their purchases, and then made they're way back out to Zach's car. "But seriously, how are you planning on asking Summer about this"  
  
"I wont ask Summer...I intent to...plant the seed"  
  
"Plant the seed..." Zach began, unlocking the driver's door, getting in and leaning across to unlock the passenger's side door for Freddy. "I am sorry, I must have an overload of hormones...you intend to plant your seed in summer?"  
  
"No, I intend on planting the seed, the idea...make her think that she came up with it." Freddy replied, getting in and sitting, throwing his unopened burrito on the dashboard. He thought for a second, and then cringed. "I can't believe that you would think that. She is Summer for petes sake."  
  
Zach bit into his burrito, threw it onto the dashboard, and then started the car. As he pulled out of the convince store parking lot, he glanced at his best friend who was riding shotgun. "Oh, come on, I wish you wouldn't talk about her like that. Summer isn't that bad"  
  
"You are right, she isn't. She is actually quite cool once you get used to her. It is just that she is summer. She is...summer. Summer is Summer" Freddy peeled the wrapper off of his burrito, bit into it, and then cursed. He turned to the driver. "Cold in the middle"  
  
"You are having one of those deep days where nothing you say makes sense right?" Zach replied, and then mimicked Freddy "Summer is Summer is Summer. Summer is as Summer does. Summer begets Summer."  
  
"Life is like a box of Summers" Freddy replied, and then picked up his Burrito once more. Sheer hunger was the only thing that was making him keep eating. He took a swig of his drink, and then looked out the window. "And Summer likes you"  
  
"Oh, would you get over it already." Zach replied, hitting the button on his CD player and tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. Usually he would play air guitar, but not today, especially considering he was driving. He didn't really want to have to explain to Mr. and Mrs. Jones that Freddy got injured because he was to busy ignoring a Summer related interrogation.   
  
"Ok, I get it, I get it...x-nay on the Summer-ay" he mumbled.   
  
"Not so much X-Nay...more like shut the hell up," Zach replied softly. Freddy nodded and looked out the window at the passing world.   
  
"OK." he mumbled to himself. It was always a lot of fun to tease his friend about their band manager's crush on him. It wasn't so much that Zach was ashamed, he had admitted to Freddy that he was actually quite flattered that she would like him, but other then that, Zach, the poor kid who didn't really think about much more then music, didn't know how to deal with things. He could hardly work out his own feelings, let alone the feelings of Summer.  
  
There was silence between the two boys as they continued their daily morning cruise. Every morning before school they drove around, centering themselves before the long and tedious day at school. They would usually go cruising during one of their classes, but Dewey had threatened to kick them out of the band for a little while if their grades didn't rise and they didn't start going to more classes. They had to attend school, and stay there for as long as possible.   
  
Freddy decided to break the silence between them. A silence like this would always mean that he "Did you know that giraffes can clean out their ears with their tongues?"  
  
And as always, an interesting yet completely random fact got Zach Mooneyham, the lead guitarist of the school or rock, smiling again. "Honestly?"  
  
"Yeah, my little sister told me that. She learnt it at Horrific Green" Freddy replied. "Bloody fifth graders, they learn some pretty random shit huh?"  
  
"Yeah, what did we learn in the fifth grade?" Zach smiled, and then glanced in the rear view mirror to see his white guitar there, the one that Dewey had given to him in the fifth grade. "There was that rocking thing we learnt about"  
  
"You don't have to win, or be perfect, to rock," Freddy added. "That is all I remember learning. That and that drums are cool"  
  
"What do you think life would have been like if we had never met Dewey?"  
  
"Fucking boring" Freddy replied, opening the glove compartment and throwing his burrito wrapper in there.   
  
"You have to clean my car Spazzy." Zach told him, eyeing the compartment suspiciously. It was almost overflowing with bacon and egg muffin wrappers, burger king papers and burrito wrappers.  
  
"I have no idea what you are talking about..." Freddy grinned, closing the glove compartment again. "That mess is not my mess"  
  
"Not your mess" Zach repeated. "Whose mess would it be?"  
  
"Who is Billy?" Freddy replied sarcastically in his jeopardy answer voice.   
  
"The boy who said he would never, ever set foot in my car because it was a bomb, and that I am tacky, I have no taste, and nothing could improve this piece of shit"  
  
"He actually said shit?" Freddy asked, surprised, taking a swig of his carbonated beverage. "That is amazing"  
  
"Well, it was more like 'sugar' " he replied. "Remind me never to fall asleep in Geography, last time I did that, Billy was trying to cut my hair."  
  
"Maybe he thought that if he got a lock of it he could do a love spell" Freddy grinned at the longhaired boy.   
  
"Shit...Damn, I would rather Summer being in love with me" Zach sighed. "You really think that if you convince Summer that it was her idea to go on a promotional road trip she will go along with it?"  
  
"Worth a try I recon. And I think Dewey would be into it, I mean, ho many times has he said he wanted to go to Seattle, and New York, and all the other great places. Do gigs along the way, make a little money, and spread the school of rock ideals out. Have some fun before we all have to go off to collage...even if the others don't want to come, I will go..." Freddy admitted. "What about you"  
  
"Road tripping with my best bud in the universe before we head off to collage, of course I am in, whether the others are or not" he replied, smiling at Freddy. "Invite the others, but if they don't want to come..."  
  
"That was the intention. Get away from it all..." Freddy sighed. "I would love to take Katie with us though.  
  
"Ohhhhhh, Freddy likes Katie" Zach sang sarcastically.   
  
"Ohhhh, Zach likes Summer" Freddy replied in the same tone. "And besides, lets be honest with each other, you know what I think of Katie"  
  
"Future mother of your children?" Zach smiled.   
  
"That, My friend, is Liv Tyler, you should know that by now. Katie is just...some one special to me." Freddy corrected. Zach shrugged. Freddy eyes his mate and asked. "Zach, be serious with me for a second, you like Summer don't you?"  
  
"What? No, I mean, no. She is summer, and she is..." he paused and changed lanes. "Ok, sure, I kind of maybe like her, as a friend, a sister. She is not as annoying as people say she is, and well, I was talking to her the other day"  
  
"God man, you do like her"  
  
"I just" Zach paused the think about it. "I just realized how much I am going to miss her next year when we all go off to different places. I am going to miss Marta and Tomika and Alisha, you know, and I am going to miss Lawrence as well. And Dewey...And Ned"  
  
"I get it, big old 'I miss you' party going on there." Freddy replied. "I am going to miss them to."  
  
"So it is settled, feelings or not, we should stop teasing each other about it?"  
  
"Agreed" Freddy smiled as they pulled into the school parking lot. He reached into the back seat where he picked up the two book bags. He reached into the front pocket of his own and pulled out his blue and gray stripped tie. "Lets get back to this shit"  
  
Zach turned off the car, got his cold burrito, his bag and got out of the car. The pair tied their ties sloppily as they made their way to the front door of their educational establishment and entered the halls of Olsen Grove High School. Olsen Grove was the pushes school in the district, and most of the School of Rock went there. And most of them hated it.   
  
Freddy pulled the door open and allowed Zach to enter before he closed it again. He could not believe that there were only a few weeks left before he never, ever had to be here again. He personally could not wait, others, like Summer, on the other hand, never wanted to leave.   
  
They stopped at Freddy's locker, and Zach watched as Freddy span the combination lock, and then slammed his hand down onto it to make it stop. Freddy grinned to himself, and then tried to open the locker. He cursed under his breath when it didn't open.   
  
"Freddy man, give it up" Zach chuckled. "You have been trying to come up with a cool way to open your locker for years, and you are yet to succeed. Just because you saw a blind guy open a locker that way...you are not blind"  
  
"You know..." Freddy began as he started doing his combination correctly. "I should be blind"  
  
"Why do you figure?" Zach asked.   
  
"The number of times I have poked myself in the eye with my sticks, I should have some sort of damage" he smiled, opening his locker and shoving his bag in there, and then pulling out his school blazer. He hated this good for nothing school and its good for nothing uniform. "And I should be deaf to, the amount of times I have been standing beside an amp and you have started shredding without warning."  
  
"You should also be a mute as well," a voice said from behind them. Freddy and Zach turned to see Marta and Summer coming up behind them. "The amount of times we have told you to shut up over the years."  
  
Freddy laughed at Marta and then cut himself short. "You are so funny, so very very funny"  
  
"Ready for home room?" Marta asked him. Freddy shook his head. She asked him the same question every day, and every day he told her the same thing, that there would be no chance that he would ever be ready, but he has to go anyway. The pair said a quick good bye to their friends and then disappeared down the hall in the direction of their homeroom.   
  
"See you in Gym" Zach called after them, and Freddy waved as they disappeared into the crowd.   
  
And then Zach and Summer were left standing by Freddy's locker. "My blazer is in my locker," he muttered, and the two of them made their way down the hall.   
  
"Freddy has finally realized that us graduating means leaving" Zach told her conversationally. "He would never admit it to anyone other then me, but he is really going to miss everyone."  
  
"Who is going to miss everyone?" Katie asked as she came up the other side of Zach. Zach smiled at the bassist.   
  
"Freddy" Zach replied, and Katie nodded. Katie seemed to understand the boys in the band better then anyone gave her credit for, so no further explanation was needed.   
  
"Yeah, we are going to miss him to" she replied nonchalantly. "Summer, I was hoping later we could have a chat about that thing, with the thing and."  
  
"Sure, definitely Katie" Summer said with a stupid grin on her face. Katie rolled her eyes, shook her head, muttered something about catching up with them later, and then disappeared down the hall.   
  
"Never knew Katie was fluent in girl" Zach shook his head. Katie was the anti-girl, don't wear a skirt when pants will do, don't wear make up when you don't have to, and most importantly, do not shop unless it is for food or music. "I am sure that that meant something important..."  
  
"She wants me to help her find a prom dress. Something that is her, but not to...prissy, I think she worded it" Summer explained. Zach nodded, and watched the ground as he walked the familiar halls to his locker. It was just bad luck that his locker was furtherest away from Freddy's, which was closest to the parking lot. He stopped before his locker, opened it, and watched out of the corner of his eye as Summer stood beside him.   
  
He glanced at her, and she looked away quickly. "So..." he began.   
  
"Are you going to the prom with anyone?" Summer blurted just as he was about to make small talk again.   
  
"I wasn't planning on going at all," Zach admitted and it was the truth. He didn't want to dress up in some suit, looking like some penguin, slow dance to some crappy song with some chick. He didn't want to have to pay for the limo, and a corsage, and everything else. He and Freddy were just planning on making an appearance at the after party.   
  
"Oh" was all Summer said, and she embarrassedly looked away.   
  
"Why, who are you going with?" Zach asked her, pulling his blazer on and getting his books from his locker.   
  
"No one...I, well..." Summer began. "No one has asked me, so I probably wont go"  
  
"Why don't you ask some one...it is the new millennium after all...girls can do anything, and all that rot" Zach replied. Summer didn't really look like the type of girl who would wait around for the boy to make the first move.   
  
"I was going to" Summer began. "But they guy I wanted to ask doesn't seem to be into the idea. I will save myself the shame."  
  
"Sum, come on, you never know. He might want to go with you" Zach told her. "You never know if you don't ask him."  
  
There was a slight pause and then "Go to the prom with me Zach?"  
  
Zach was taken a back. He should have realized. The boy who was not interested in the prom, it was him.   
  
"I mean, it is not a date, I don't expect anything to come of it, I just, well...it is the prom Zach, and well, we can go as friends right, we have hung out together on a purely platonic level, and we always have a lot of fun. The rest of the band will be there, so it is not like we will be alone or anything" she tried to explain quickly. "I mean, that is, if you want to go at all. You don't have to if you don't want to, there is no obligation for you to go with me just because I asked you to."   
"Summer!" Zach interrupted "Just as friends?"  
  
"Just as friends" she agreed.   
  
"Then I would love to go to the prom with you"

Please review, tell me if you like it


	2. Chapter 2

"You did what?"  
  
Zach recoiled at Freddy's exclamation. He sighed, looked at the plate in front of him and wished to himself that he had never said anything to his friend. "I told Summer I would go to the prom with her"  
  
"And why on earth would you go and do something like that!" Freddy asked. Zach sighed.  
  
"Because she is my friend, and she didn't have a date" Zach began. Freddy sighed and dropped his fork so that he could stare at his friend.  
  
"Because she wanted to go with you," Freddy replied.  
  
"So what if she does want to go with me?" Zach began. "Maybe I want to go with her to"  
  
"Fair enough" He picked up his fork again and dug into his potatoes. He was so hungry; the breakfast burrito that he had brought that morning was still sitting on Zach's dashboard. Zach would not be happy. "I just thought we were going to hang out that night and then meet up with the rest of the band for the after Prom gig"  
  
"Well, change of plans" Zach replied. He could tell that Freddy was disappointed in him, but really, now that he had told her that he would go, he was looking forward to it. He could find a suit and he would have fun with Summer. Oh well, Freddy would get over it. Zach would find a way to make it up to his friend.  
  
"Can I borrow your car that night" Freddy asked after a few minutes of silence between the two of them. Zach smiled, that was his chance to make it up to him. "I feel like cruising"  
  
"Yeah man, go for it" Zach smiled. When Zach had gotten his license, his father had offered to buy him a brand new car. Zach refused, brought himself a classic Oldsmobile, a car that he fell in love with as soon as he saw it. Freddy was the only other person on the earth he would let drive that car.  
  
"I can't believe you are selling out," Freddy muttered. "Now I am going to be all alone"  
  
"How would that differ from any other time of your life?" a voice said from behind them. Freddy looked over his shoulder as Katie put her tray down and took a seat at the table. He could not help but roll his eyes. Katie was the only one who could cut him down like that. She was, most of the time, the only one that he would let shut him down. "What are we talking about?"  
  
"The prom" Freddy sighed.  
  
"Stop giving me shit about it man, so I am going to the prom with Summer, who cares" Zach replied.  
  
"You know, she told me about that...she is really excited" Katie smiled, trying unsuccessfully to open her milk. Freddy smirked, took it off of her, stabbed it with a drumstick, inserted a straw and handed it back to her. Katie shook her head at his antics but thanked him anyway.  
  
"Is she wearing pink?" Freddy asked. "Because Zach should get a matching tie"  
  
"Yeah, her dress is pink" Katie replied. Freddy laughed. Zach just sighed.  
  
"If I didn't know any better, I would think you are jealous" Zach accused his friend.  
  
"Jealous" Freddy scoffed through a mouth full of food. Katie shook her head in disgust.  
  
"Yeah, maybe deep down you want to go to the prom with Summer" Katie grinned.  
  
"As if" Freddy replied.  
  
Katie grinned again and looked between the two boys. "Fine you want to go to the prom with Zach"  
  
Zach choked on his food and Freddy snorted milk through his nose. "Well..." Freddy said after pretending to consider for a few seconds. "I would rather go to the prom with Zach then with Summer"  
  
"As interesting as this conversation is," Zach sighed, looking at his watch. "I need to swing by my locker. Bye guys"  
  
Both of them said goodbye to their friend. Freddy turned back to his food, he was still starving, and Katie just sat there, staring at him. After about a minute, Freddy realised he was being watched and looked up at the girl. "What?"  
  
"Stop begging Fred, you don't suit it"  
  
Freddy looked at her as though she had gone crazy. "What?"  
  
"Stop begging Freddy. I will go to the prom with you" Katie replied. Freddy looked at her and then burst out laughing.  
  
He stopped laughing as soon as he realized that she was serious.  
  
"You don't really want to go to that waste of time prom do you?" Freddy asked Katie, who was staring at the tabletop. "I mean, we all went to the lame ass junior prom and we all said the same thing, it was crap."  
  
"Well, maybe this one will be different"  
  
"And maybe it wont" Freddy replied. "Hey, better idea, lets not go together. I mean, I have Zach's car that night, we can cruise around, get some ice cream, hang out at Smithy's, I hear he has some new instruments that we can play...see how long it takes us to get kicked out."  
  
Katie looked up at him, and he already knew he had said the wrong thing. Just by the look in her eyes, Freddy knew he was in trouble. "So it is ok for us to hang out at Smithy's, but we cant hang out together at the prom"  
  
"It is not really our thing..." Freddy began.  
  
"Speak for yourself Jones" Katie said quietly. "You think that just because we are friends you really know what I want. Ever thought that maybe I don't want to only be seen as a bassist"  
  
Freddy was struck dumb by his friend's revelation, so Katie went on.  
  
"I love being seen as one of the guys, one of the band, but you know what, I need to be able to be seen as a girl to. You don't look at me as anything more then one of your friends, a girl who you hang out with at Smithy's. Well guess what, I want to wear a dress, and I want to put on makeup, and I want to do my hair and I want to be seen as a girl by the losers at this godforsaken school!" Katie explained. "No consider yourself lucky I asked you first!"  
  
"Katie..." Freddy began. "I am sorry"  
  
"So that's a no." Katie sighed. "Ok, I will go with Jerry from the Audio Visual club."  
  
Freddy watched as she stood, picked up her tray, and moved to leave the cafeteria. He had to stop her from leaving. He was in shock, she had just laid her feelings on the line and he had acted like an inconsiderate jerk. Truthfully, he had never known that Katie had felt that way about the way the band treated her.  
  
"Katie" He called. Katie stopped at the door and turned back to him. A few tables in the room stopped in the conversation to watch them. "What color is your dress?"  
  
Katie stared at him as though he was insane. "Blue"  
  
"You don't expect me to dance do you?" He asked. Katie smirked.  
  
"Five songs"  
  
"Two"  
  
"Four"  
  
"Three" Freddy conceded to her across the lunchroom. "Three dances. Only one of them is going to be a slow song. Final offer, take it or leave it"  
  
"Sold" Katie smiled at him. "See you at practice, Prom date"  
  
Freddy groaned. What had he gotten himself into?  
  
"Zach Dog, you wouldn't happen to have a blue tie I could borrow would you?" Freddy asked as the pair walked up the stairs to Dewey's apartment for their after school band practice.  
  
"I have about a thousand blue ties" Zach replied. "What type of blue? Cornflower, Cobalt, ocean, sky?"  
  
Freddy stopped dead in the hall and stared at his friend. Sometimes it was hard to believe that they were from completely different backgrounds, and then he would say something like that, and he would be reminded.  
  
"Too preppy?" Zach asked.  
  
"Just a touch" Freddy laughed as he pushed open the door to the apartment. On practice afternoon, Ned would leave the door open for them so that they could get in and warm up their instruments before Dewey arrived for their proper practice. "I can't believe she talked me into going to the prom"  
  
"She guilted you into it more like it" Zach smiled, picking up his guitar.  
  
"I think I would have gone anyway" Freddy sighed and then began taking his anger out of the drums. He paused after his improvisational solo, and looked at his best mate. "Tell it to me straight, does she have me whipped?"  
  
"Don't you have to be dating to be whipped?" Zach asked. "Dammit Freddy, just tell her how you feel about her"  
  
"I don't even know how I feel about her. She is like a sister, but..." Freddy paused. "If she is only a sister, then some of the thoughts that I have about her are incest"  
  
"You think of her that way?" Zach asked.  
  
"Thoughts" Freddy paused "Dreams"  
  
"Who do you dream about?" Katie asked, entering the apartment.  
  
The boys looked at each other, and then back at the bassist. "Liv Tyler"  
  
"Boys" Katie groaned, and she moved to get her own instrument from the other room.  
  
A few minutes later, after every one else was there, Dewey entered. "Hey guys...before we begin with the new, super cool song Zach wrote..."  
  
"Brown noser" Freddy smiled, Zach gave him the finger.  
  
"I want to work on an old one" Dewey smiled. "Step off"  
  
There was a cheer from the back up singers. Freddy rolled his eyes, lifted this sticks and counted the group in. "One, two, one, two, three, four!"  
  
"I had no allowance today, so I am really ticked off...I had to do my chores today, so I am really ticked off" Jack played the song that they had written so long ago.  
  
He then paused, and then turned towards Freddy. "Freddy is getting a failing grade, so I am really ticked off"  
  
And suddenly the music stopped. Freddy stopped his sticks in mid air and just stared at Dewey. He had gotten a d minus on his latest geography quiz, but he never expected Dewey to find out about it. Dewey was about to give him another lecture, he could feel it.  
  
"How is geography going Freddy?" Dewey asked.  
  
"Obviously you all ready know" Freddy sighed. "Can we just rock please?"  
  
"There were always limitations on rock Freddy, you knew that!" Dewey replied. "You guys all agreed that if you are going to continue in the band, school came first."  
  
"Dewey, I got a D on one quiz, I can make it up next time. We still have one more exam before the end of the year" Freddy told him.  
  
"That is not good enough. You were only just scraping through on geography. You would have to get 100% on your next exam in order to pass the year"  
  
"So what now?" Freddy asked, standing. "You always said that if one of us failed you would kick us out of the band! Am I out of the band?"  
  
Dewey watched his drummer as he stared back at him. Was he out of the band? He couldn't honestly kick Freddy out of the band; not really, the kid was to good of a drummer.  
  
"Probation" Dewey compromised.  
  
"Stick it to the man" Freddy mumbled to himself. Dewey didn't hear the exact words, but it was obvious to him that he had said something.  
  
"What was that Jones?"  
  
"You always told us to stick it to the man" Freddy replied with no shame. "You are the man at the moment Dewey"  
  
If there was one thing Dewey Finn hated, it was the man. And if there was one way to annoy him, it was to call him the man...or at least point out that he was the man. Zach looked between Freddy and Dewey, taking a small step back, because it seemed as though Dewey was about to explode. It would not have been the first time that Dewey had screamed at Freddy, but this one seemed huge.  
  
But Dewey surprised them all when he simply said. "Go outside and cool off, come back when you are ready to play music"  
  
Freddy shook his head at Dewey, kicked the high hat as he passed, and left the apartment.  
  
Dewey watched the teenager leave. He could not be angry with him, not really, because Dewey knew he had been the same when he was growing up. Angry and bitter. His friendship with Ned was the only thing that kept him going crazy, that and the rock.  
  
"Zach, go after him" Dewey said. Zach was Ned in that friendship, the cool headed one, the one that refused to snap, no matter what the circumstances.  
  
"Katie has already gone" Zach replied.  
  
Katie had no idea why she decided to follow Freddy out of the apartment. All she knew was that Freddy's moods were predictable. He would more be hurt then anything really. Not much fazed him, but when he had to lose his cool in front of other members of the band, it frustrated him.  
  
"Freddy" she called as she stepped out onto the street. Freddy looked up when he heard his name. He had already opened Zack's car and found the hidden pack of cigarettes. Both boys started smoking at the same time, and both had quit smoking at the same time, but they still had an emergency pack, just in case. "I thought you quit"  
  
"I did" he took a long drag.  
  
"Freddy, you know that Dewey is only looking out for us" she began softly. Freddy shook his head, he could not believe that she was going to try and lecture him about this sort of stuff.  
  
"Well, he is not my father" he snapped at Katie. Katie grinned.  
  
"Now now, you don't know that for sure," she replied. Freddy laughed reluctantly.  
  
There was one thing that not many people knew about the young drummer, and that was that he and his little sister, Ashley, were adopted. He had found out in his first year of junior high, and actually accepted it quite well. He knew his real parents names, but he had no intention of ever finding them. They had given up on him, so there was no point. Plus, he was happy with his adopted parents. Freddy was so comfortable with his life situation that he openly joked about it. The running joke was usually that Zach's father was his biological father, because that would explain why the two boys were so a like. Plus, it would give Mr. Mooneyham the shits to have a son like Freddy.  
  
"I do know that for sure" he replied. "Its not my fault I suck at geography"  
  
"I know" Katie sighed. "We all have our low academic points."  
  
"Not you or Summer." Freddy pointed out. "You two are the main contenders for valedictorian"  
  
"I would never get it" she confided in the boy "I cut gym to much"  
  
Freddy chuckled, threw his cigarette to the ground, and looked back up at Dewey's apartment. "Should I apologies?"  
  
"What do you think?" Katie asked. Freddy sighed.  
  
"Ok, but no laughing while I am trying to be sincere." 


	3. Chapter three

Zach honked the car horn twice. His customary goodbye to his best friend. Freddy stopped just outside of his front door, turned back to the car and waved as he always did. Zach had just dropped him off after practice, and he was just about to go to his evening job at Smithy's. Both boys worked at Smithy's, an instrument store just outside the mall. It was great, because not only could they jam while not helping the customers; it allowed them to keep up with the new instruments being released. Plus, it was good because Lawrence and Katie both worked at the mall to. Katie in a second hand comic and record store, and Lawrence in the bookshop.  
  
He entered the house and paused, watching the stairs as two young girls ran down them. Freddy smiled. His little sister Ashley and her best friend Larissa, two girls that he had adopted into his life early on. Ash was not his biological sister, but she was the closest thing he had, and they were so alike not many knew the truth. And Rissa was such a great girl that he had promised to protect her forever. If anyone hurt his girls, they would have to deal with himself and Zach.  
  
"You are here again Riss?" Freddy asked, putting his bag on the floor by the entrance table. "Dad should make you start paying rent"  
  
"I think he will soon" Larissa replied. Freddy laughed and messed his little sister's hair. Ashley growled up at him.  
  
"Oh, good, Freddy is home" a voice came from the kitchen. Freddy smiled and looked into the next room.  
  
"Hi mom" he grinned. Denise Jones smiled at the young man, wiped her hands on a cloth and then came to the entrance where the children were convened.  
  
"Girls, Wash up for dinner and then set the table" she ordered politely. "And you, Freddy, go get your father, he is in the study"  
  
Freddy playfully saluted his mother and then disappeared down the hallway to his fathers study. He paused outside and listened through the shut door as his father mumbled to himself. Freddy loved his dad, even after the knowledge that the man was not his real father. Geoffrey Jones was the only father he knew, and the only father he wanted to know.  
  
Freddy pushed the door open a little after he heard a muffled explosion and a curse and saw that his father was not working as hard as what his mother had said he was, but was playing some sort of computer game. "Busted, old man"  
  
Geoff hit a button quickly, and the screen went blank. He looked up, and then released a sigh when he realized that it was only Freddy that had caught him.  
  
"Don't do that Boy," he warned playfully. "How has your day been?"  
  
"Confusing" Freddy, admitted. His father knew everything that went on in his life. That was the nature of their relationship. Hey were more friends then anything else. "I asked Katie to the Prom"  
  
"I thought you were not going?"  
  
"I wasn't going, and then suddenly summer asked Zach and Katie was talking and she was saying stuff and I was confused and scared and didn't know what to say and she was offended and then I realized that I had offended her and then I had to do something to fix it all so I invited her to the prom with me and now I have to go and...I am confused" he said in a rush. Geoff chuckled to himself.  
  
"Tricked, it seems," he laughed. Freddy groaned and leant back in his chair, his hands behind his head. "DO you still think you have feelings for Katie?"  
  
"What do you think?" Freddy sighed. "I don't know what to do anymore Dad, things were so easy when we were just band mates, friends, you know, but now I like her and I cant deal with that."  
  
"You can't deal with it?"  
  
"We are going to be separated next year Dad, she is going to go some big collage or something, and I will be suck at some community collage, or start my career flipping burgers..."  
  
"You will not end up flipping burgers son..." Geoff smiled. "You will manager of the McDonalds, if you just believe in yourself..."  
  
"Very inspirational Dad, thanks"  
  
"You are very welcome." He laughed. "You will be fine Kiddo...everything with Katie will work out. Just take her to the prom and have fun."  
  
"Yeah, that was the plan" Freddy mumbled. He wanted desperately to change the subject, so he did. Remembering a discussion they had had almost a year earlier, he asked. "Were you serious about matching my road trip fund?"  
  
Geoffrey smiled at his son. About a year ago, Freddy had first voiced the idea of going on a road trip when he finished school. Back then he was sure it had just been a pipedream, so he had told his son that he would match the amount that he saved.  
  
"Sure" Geoffrey smiled. If there was one thing that he knew about Freddy, it was that he was a very spontaneous child. Everything was decided on the spur of the moment. He couldn't have been that organized to have saved very much, surely.  
  
Freddy smiled and reclined a little in his seat. "One thousand, one hundred and twenty nine dollars, and ninety four cents. Taking about a hundred out of that so that I can go to the prom, you owe me a grand"  
  
Geoffrey exhaled quickly. That was a lot of money. "Where did you get that sort of cash? Are you dealing drugs?"  
  
"Dad, come on, I have been working at Smithy's, taking overtime when I can, I took a few of Zach's shifts, I worked more over Christmas. I saved the money legitimately, have been for about a year"  
  
"You really want to get away from us that much do you?" Geoff asked. Freddy rolled his eyes, his father always asked things like that.  
  
"If I say yes, will you still let me go?" Freddy asked. "Come on dad, you always said that we could do what we want over the summers, and well, I really want to get away from here for a little while. I have been a good kid recently, and I have tried really hard to succeed, so I deserve this..."  
  
"Hey, you have no argument from me. I want to you go. Experience life before it is to late. I road tripped after high school and I loved it, so it would be hypocritical if I said that you were not allowed to do the same. You and Zach are going to have a great time."  
  
"If Zach is even coming," Freddy mumbled. "I have a feeling that Mr. Mooneyham will not let him go."  
  
"Hypocritical ass" Geoff muttered. Freddy smirked. Michael Mooneyham and Geoffrey Jones were best friends in highschool, went to the same collage, but had a major falling out when they were seniors. It was just sheer coincidence that they lived in the same area and their sons were best friends. "If he doesn't let Zach go, I will personally help you bust him out and take him with you"  
  
"Thanks dad" Freddy laughed. "I appriciate it."  
  
Geoff looked at the clock. "Dinners ready?"  
  
"yeah"  
  
"Thanks lets go before your mother has a heart attack" he smiled, and the two Jones men stood and left the room.

"What was wrong with that one?"  
  
Katie looked at Summer as they left the fifth dress shop they had visited that evening, "what wasn't wrong with it?"  
  
Summer sighed, maybe agreeing to help her friend find a dress for the prom was a dumb idea, especially considering how little time there was left until the prom. All of the nice dressed were taken.  
  
"Summer, dresses just are not my thing. Maybe Freddy was right, maybe it is stupid for me to go to the prom," Katie told her. Summer stopped dead in her tracks and stared at her friend. "I am the odd girl, I have no right to be there"  
  
"Don't say that, you have as much right to go there, you have as much right to look good, and you have as much right to have fun as any one else."  
  
"What ever." She returned. "I am sick of dress shopping"  
  
Before Summer could complain, Katie was heading in the direction of Smithy's. Summer smiled and took a few quick steps to catch up with her taller friend. They entered the store together.  
  
"Zach Attack" Katie greeted. Zach looked up from the guitar he was staring at and smiled at the others.  
  
"Isn't it beautiful?" he asked, pointing to the guitar on the wall. He turned to Katie; his eyes wide like a kid on Christmas. "I want it. I would sell my own mother to get this guitar. Please say you will buy it for me Katie."  
  
"Sell your mother and buy it yourself, I am not your wench" She replied. Zach grinned and coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'Freddy's'  
  
"Quiet you" Katie smirked as she crossed to the bass guitars. "So I asked him to the prom, who cares. We are going platonically. Mates, no Dates."  
  
Zach went back to staring at the guitar on the wall, and Summer stepped up beside him. He glanced at her quickly, and then backs to the instrument. Summer watched him, smiling a little as he raised his hand and soft caressed the glossy finish. Zach released a sigh "I am in love"  
  
Summer shook her head at him. This was one of the reasons why she had felt such a strong attraction to him. His passion for music was outstanding. The fact that a guitar could make him react the way a woman would make most teenagers react was amazing, and sweet.  
  
"Love?" Summer asked.  
  
"Yes" Zach replied, staring at the guitar. "I am in love." 


End file.
